In wireless networks such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced communication networks, a user equipment (UE) may communicate with other UEs via a base station and an evolved packet core (EPC) network. For example, a UE may send data packets to its serving base station on an uplink. The serving base station may forward the data packets to the EPC network and the EPC network may forward the data packet to another base station or to the same base station that is serving another UE. Data transfer between the UEs is routed through the base station and the EPC.
When two UEs in a wireless network are located in proximity and wish to exchange information between each other, it may be efficient to establish a communication link directly between the UEs, instead of transferring data via the network. Currently the UEs may communicate directly with each other using other radio access technology (RAT), such as, wireless local area network (WLAN) or Bluetooth when the UEs have access to the other RAT. However, this requires the availability of the other RAT and the capability of the UEs to operate in the other RAT. Moreover, handover from cellular technology to other RATs may result in service interruption and dropped calls.